Classic Constructed Deck Tech: Teklovossen

Dromai, Ash Artist has finally become a Living Legend after two long years. Now that she's gone, the meta will once again welcome a few decks that couldn't handle her matchup.

Amidst the dominance of Kayo, Armed and Dangerous and the rising popularity of Warriors like Kassai of the Golden Sand and Dorinthea Ironsong, two forgotten decks have reemerged in this Dromai-less meta: Riptide, Lurker of the Deep and Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate.

Today, we decided to tackle the Mechanologist most players forgot about, Teklovossen, and explore his potential in the attrition meta we're currently in.

Most players have, at least once, heard about Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire and the Boost mechanic. So, most players are used to Mechanologist decks that don't have any generic cards and are more aggressive (even though control Mechanologist decks aren't that unusual) - both Dash I/O and Maxx 'The Hype' Nitro are great examples of this type of deck. However, Teklovossen is significantly different.

Can you use the same cards as the other Mechanologist archetypes, and also use various Boost cards when you play him? Yes. But Teklovossen's real strength only shows through when you play slower and set up a devastating final turn with your equipment. And, considering we won't use Boost, we might as well use generic cards.

However, if we can equip low-cost EVOs quickly, and Teklovossen plays EVOs from the banish zone, why not play Boost cards?

Let's check out the list we'll be working with today and unravel every detail there is to know about this hero to understand how we'll benefit from this game style.

I built this deck myself and have been playing with it for a few weeks now. It's quite flexible: you can adapt it however you like it.

Besides, of course, the fact I added generic cards like Sink Below (1) and Ripple Away (3), this archetype is also a bit heavier - it is almost like a Guardian deck.

But, before I talk about the deck itself, we have to understand why anyone would play Teklovossen and fully grasp this deck's main win condition: Singularity (1).

Everything in this card looks and sounds hard to do. It costs 6, you can only bring one copy of it in your deck, and we need to fully equip our hero to transform him. However, just like Levia, Redeemed, after we do that, he will become an entirely different hero, and, from then on, the game will be a lot easier for us.

This Demi-hero has a few abilities, so let's go through them one by one. The first thing you'll notice is that he'll get Shadow, but this doesn't change anything in practice because FaB's deckbuilding rules state we can't put Shadow cards in this deck. Teklovossen will also become an equipment card, so cards that destroy equipment, like Powder Keg (3) and Buckle (3), will destroy Teklovossen and, consequently, we'll lose the game immediately.

Another important detail is that we'll have Intellect 3 (just like Data Doll MKII), but also Battleworn 6, which means we can use our hero to defend ourselves.

Teklovossen's first ability lets you use him to attack (yes, he attacks) if you banish two cards from your soul. Our "soul" is the cards below our hero (including Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate) - which means we'll be able to attack with him at least five times. Additionally, your opponent will have to discard a card when we attack before they block. Teklovossen's second and third ability are self-explanatory.

Now, let's see this deck in action and understand how you will almost certainly win the game if you transform your hero into Teklovossen, the Mechropotent.

This deck's main mechanic and, as a result, also its most important cards, are EVOs. They are the equipment cards that start in our deck, so our challenge will be to find them and equip them (either from our hand or our banish zone) on top of our Proto Base (our base equipment).

Even though there are a few EVO sets, this list only uses the EVO Steel cycle. They are all blue, cost 4, and block 3 (if equipped, they also have Temper 3). They're great because they're extremely defensive, but each one also has a critical triggered ability.

We'll trigger these abilities when we equip another EVO on top of the blue ones, or when we equip a blue card on top of an EVO with a different name. If we disregard a few equipment cards in our sideboard (which we'll discuss later on), we won't trigger these abilities by default, but when we transform Teklovossen into Mechropotent, we'll trigger all of them twice.

In practice, transforming into Mechropotent will grant you an extra 2 Intellect (which means you'll have 5) and 6 resource, will let you move two 6 power Attack Actions from your graveyard to your deck, and give you two Action Points. This means you'll not only be able to attack twice with your hero right away, but also draw 5 cards at the end of your turn, so you'll be able to set up a devastating next turn as well.

Because of our EVOs, we must use base equipment at the beginning of the game. Currently, we have three base equipment cycles in the game; both Cogwerx and Proto Base are viable in this deck. The only one that may be a bit more problematic is the Teklo base because it's an easy target for cards like T-Bone (1).

Your hero's signature weapon, Teklo Leveler, is useless in the early game, but, as we equip more EVOs, it gets better and better - and, when we're full equipped, it becomes extremely efficient.

Attack Actions

Our Attack Actions are mostly inefficient when the game first starts, but they become true war machines as we play more turns.

In this list, Majestic cards with EVO upgrades essentially all do the same thing: end the game.

Without EVOs, your attacks are quite mediocre, so it's important to pitch to use them in the second cycle, when they'll be much stronger. Keep in mind they'll have Go Again thanks to Mechropotent, and like so will probably win you the game right then.

However, this list can abuse many other attacks as well. A few other attacks with an EVO upgrade may improve our game plan, such as, for instance, a zero-cost Liquid-Cooled Mayhem (1) and Mechanical Strength (3), which threatens 7 damage and is blue. Furthermore, Pulsewave Protocol (2) like Pulsewave Harpoon (1) in the sense that it will also let you pick out a relevant card in your opponent's hand and take it away from them.

Ripple Away (3) is a generic card with good stats. It is useful in this deck to counter some cards like Codex of Frailty (2) and Goblet of Bloodrun Wine (3), but this is a flexible slot you can use to handle whatever is strong in the metagame at the moment.

Scrap Cards

As EVOs block 3, it is really convenient to use them from our hand to block, but they'll go to the graveyard afterward. We need to banish them somehow so we can equip them, and the best way to do this is with the Scrap mechanic.

Junkyard Dogg (1), Scrap Trader (1), and Scrap Compactor (3) are great to do this. They also have their own Scrap bonus, but their most important role is to banish EVOs so we can equip them on that same turn or on a more convenient turn.

Other Cards

The rest of the cards in this deck are defensive. We need time to set up all our equipment, so we need to preserve as much life as we can to get to our end game.

Sink Below (1) and Fate Foreseen (1) are old friends, and very popular in defensive decks. Sink Below (1) can fix a hand full of reds, and Fate Foreseen (1) will let us take a peek at the top of our deck. We can also use other options in this slot, like Sigil of Solace (1) and Peace of Mind (1).

Blocking might not seem as useful when we compare it to Defense Reactions, but some options are interesting enough to make it to the list. Firewall (1) will filter the top of our deck and get us our EVOs. Steel Street Enforcement (3), though quite weak at first, is a blue card and can block up to 5, so it becomes quite important as the game goes on.

Fabricate (1) is the most flexible card in this list, and you can use it in several situations. Considering how this deck was built, the most common ways you'll play it will be "EVOs defend one more" and "put Fabricate (1) under an EVO" (so well have more cards in our soul when we become Mechropotent). However, you don't have to play like this if you don't want to: you can play however you see fit depending on the game state.

In almost all matches, the goal is to transform Teklovossen into Teklovossen, the Mechropotent, so we have to handle the earlier turns and finish the match with enough life and resources. This deck's game style is entirely different from Dash I/O's or Maxx 'The Hype' Nitro's, considering it doesn't have a great rhythm and our best attacks are quite inefficient in the early game. Play in the defense as much as you can, and only try to win the game with Singularity (1).

Here are a few tips:

- Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate's ability happens right away, so you can use it in your opponent's turn. Activating it is very useful on the first turn if your opponent just passes, and you want to equip an EVO or just if you want to cycle a few cards from your hand.

- Your attacks will become more reasonable once you equip two EVOs, and after you equip three of them they'll already give you their value back and more. So, if you struggle to play for the second cycle, try to equip at least two of them as fast as possible.

- Blue EVOs have Temper, so if your defenses reach zero, they'll break, and, consequently, you won't be able to equip new EVOs. Avoid this situation as much as you can, and, if you fear it will happen, get some Proto Base cards in your inventory with Fabricate (1).

- Don't be afraid to block with EVOs in your hand. With Scrap, you'll be able to equip them in later turns.

- Don't put Singularity (1) too early in your arsenal. Besides the fact it will occupy space there for too long (which means several of your cards will lose value as long as it's there), anything that destroys arsenals (like Command and Conquer (1)) may ruin your game plan. Nonetheless, to avoid this situation, use Remembrance (2).

- As EVOs cost 4, it is interesting to use one blue card and one red card to pay for them and like so prepare a good second cycle.

For a few specific matchups:

- Prioritize Remembrance for longer matchups, like Guardians or Warriors.

- Induction Chamber (1) will fatigue Prism, Awakener of Sol, Azalea, Ace in the Hole, and Vynnset, Iron Maiden.

- Demolition Protocol (1) will deal with other Mechanologists or serve as another popper for Illusionist.

- Use the EVO Sentry cycle in aggro matchups to accelerate your equipment.

Many Flesh and Blood players sometimes ask themselves: is it worth it to play Teklovossen in Blitz? What if we apply this same game plan in a format with 20 life?

Teklovossen by himself may be problematic because he doesn't have enough life to play all his equipment, but this format has Professor Teklovossen, which reduces the cost of your EVOs by one. This means the EVO Steel cycle will cost 4 - and you'll only have to use one blue card from your hand.

So, you can use the Professor to play your equipment faster, and, additionally, Singularity (1) is way deadlier in a format with less life. I'll leave a list below, but you are welcome to test other cards and see for yourself the potential of a control deck in a format with less life.

Ever since Teklovossen, Esteemed Magnate was released, he was exiled to the most desolate corners of the meta because of his polarizing matchups. Dromai, Ash Artist was my nemesis and stopped me from performing well in any tournament. However, as she is now a Living Legend, Teklovossen is free. Since then, he has conquered a few victories in Pro Quests, and has shown us he is more than human.

All my thanks go to my friend, Vitor, who helped me build the Professor list and put this hero to the test in Blitz.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!